Visualizations of Historic and Coastal Flooding Impacts and Solutions

Flooding is one of the most deadly and costly natural disasters known to humans. While much is done to study the impacts of flooding, not enough is done to inform the public about the dangers of flooding. In a society where information is becoming more readily accessible, there needs to be more ways of informing individuals of the everyday dangers they face. Simple maps and charts, while accurate, do not display enough information at the level needed for people to act. The biggest factor in influencing individuals’ behavior on risk is fear. In recent years, new systems have been developed in specific locations to better inform the community members about the dangers of flooding. Using mobile augmented reality and 3D mapping, a new application was constructed that can be readily used by anyone anywhere. The application was developed using Unity 3D, Vuforia, and Mapbox technologies. The application used historic as well as predictive flooding data to give an individual a greater perspective on their local flooding situations. With the ability to switch between augmented reality and standard mapping an individual can understand the severity of past and future flooding scenarios. The application gave greater insight into the possibility of different flood modeling and visualization systems. It is hoped that with new technologies developed more individuals will be educated and saved from rising flood waters.